Evergreen climber to cover a west facing wall in zone 9

[Pete]

Hi,

A newbie question:

I have a two story home, the west facing side is very ugly, pipes etc., I would like to plant some dense evergreen climber to cover this wall, I live in San Francisco Bay Area. Any suggestions?

Thanks Just

[simy1]

How about kiwi? That will cover the wall in a flash. Build some sturdy supports, these plants become immense. You will also get the fruits of course. Otherwise go with ivy and wait ten years.

[paghat]

Kiwi's a nice choice, but not evergreen, & though it grows like mad once established, takes a two or three years to establish. Being fed all those wonderful fruits once it gets going is just too cool. It is a high-maintenance vine if one values the fruits, but wild & neglectible if fruits are unimportant. There's a male kiwi vine that has amazing white & green leaves that looks just awesome. When selecting a kiwi bare in mind the females have to be kept short enough to harvest, but a single male can be allowed to spread above the better-tended females & that boy will cover the whole upper area of a two story wall with no problem -- though if you start with largish specimens you're still looking at a four-year wait for it to have a lot of coverage.

Some evergreen choices that should do well around San Francisco include Purple Passion Flower, which spreads very rapidly & self-clings without rooting into a wall.

are many choices which would fast-growing & evergreen but might also root into the house itself & cause some damage, like Algerian Ivy, great to cover a fence but I'm not sure it would be safe on a house.

I suspect the ideal choice might well be Hydrangea seemanni, a broadleaf evergreen that grows three or four times faster than deciduous hydrangea (which still isn't instant coverage; there isn't much that doesn't also injure walls that grows super-rapidly, but this Evergreen Climbing Hydrangea is one of the "least slow" of the hyndrangeas generally, & of any vine that cannot harm walls. It will cover a fifteen by fifteen foot wall so densely you won't see any part of the wall.

Holboellia coriacea, China Blue Vine, grows rapidly, but takes a few years to thicken up; it is a semi-evergreen Akebia. Regular akebia might itself be partlky evergreen in Zone 9, & has ultra-rapid growth & thick coverage, but the "semi" in evergreen does mean it looks very thin in winter, making kup for being close to leafless at winter's end because that's when it produces flowers galore, ahead of new leaves, then leaves rapidly join in.

Clematis armandii, Evergreen Clematis thrives exclusively in zones 8 & 9. It takes some attention or it gets homely with time, but it grows faster than any vine I know of that is truly fully evergreen in temperate climates, & with attention it remains leafy throughout year-round, & when in bloom at winter's end or so, the odor is just super. Try to find a less common cultivar like the double-bloom or the pinkish-bloom varieties, as the plain is just too common a plant. Mine is common & ordinary evergreen clematis, but I only wanted it to cover the alley side of the garage which is a somewhat "exiled" location. Here's a report on it:

trumpet vines would be slow-growing in San Francisco & only semi-deciduous, but in the slightly warmer valleys & bay areas would be much more a true evergreen; takes two or three years to establish then fills up a wall like a son of a gun, with gorgeous big flowers that can be around Spring through Autumn on some of the cultivars. The cultivars are not invasive like the wild one. You don't want it overhanging a sidewalk or porch, as the flowers are big & juicy & make a mess unless they fall on soil. Boy oh boy will the yard be filled with hummingbirds. Here's mine: Potato Vine is a "wall shrub" more than a vine, & has to be trained to a trellis to give good wall coverage. But it grows from a baby to ten feet tall in less than a year, blooms for months on end, has lovely orange fruits that taste horrid as horrid gets. When attached to a house that gives it some warmth in winter, it is evergreen down to zone 8, but will be deciduous if there's a good cold snap in winter, & it does take a lot of attention because the rapid growth is TOO rapid & it almost needs to be conscioiusly espaliered to work out well -- it will not attach itself to the wall per se so you have to give it a trellis about the size of the area you want covered or hidden. Though perhaps the "ugly pipes" you mention would be sufficient to tie it to & it wouldn't need a trellis. It turns into a giant floppy shrub if not consciouslky trained to a wall & trimmed back now & then, but it's super easy to care for & if ever over-pruned springs back in a few weeks rather than months. Here's mine: the ratgirl

[Chris Owens]

Since SF gets snow, it's going to be hard to find an evergreen climber. However, I think you'd find that the pattern that dormant vines make can also be quite effective at screening. I suggest passionflower or clematis.

Chris Owens

[gregpresley]

"Chris Owens" wrote in >

Yeah, the occasional flake.........There are lots of evergreen vines grown in Florida and many parts get more days of frost than San Francisco (I think the city averages less than 1/year). Some of the higher hills around the bay area get snow every couple of years - I would guess above 1500 feet in elevation.

[Chris Owens]

Since SF gets snow, it's going to be hard to find an evergreen climber. However, I think you'd find that the pattern that dormant vines make can also be quite effective at screening. I suggest passionflower or clematis.

Chris Owens

[Pete]

Hi,

I forgot to mention that I live half way between San Francisco and San Jose, a small town called Los Altos in the Silicon Valley. No snow here at all, in winter, the coldest would be about 20 deg for a few days, and winter average out to about 30-40 deg.

Just